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27 September 2012

Skin of Evil

Episode:
s1, ep 23

This is a darker, creepier episode than I expect from The Next Generation, but it's only fitting since it sees the death of a main character. I'm glad I didn't see this as a kid, because I was kinda sensitive and I think the visuals of the monster could've really scared me.

What Happens

The Enterprise is waiting for Counsellor
Troi, who is returning from a conference. There’s a distress call from her
shuttle, which has lost control and can’t see its location. Engineering is doing maintenance that means the Enterprise
can’t warp to the rescue. The shuttle crashes on a planet and an away team is
sent on a rescue mission. They beam down near the crashed vessel and encounter
a large black tar-like puddle that moves and blocks their path. They cannot
tell what it is or how it moves. It talks in a big, deep, scary voice and a big,
dark, drippy thing rises out of it. From the ship Picard speculates that this is what
caused the crash. It mocks them, asking why they should let it pass, Riker says
something about the sanctity of life, it is not impressed. Tasha tries to walk
past it, the monster knocks her flying. The others try shooting it, to no
effect.

The away team beam to sickbay and
Crusher tries to save Tasha, while Riker, Picard and Data huddle in the corner.
Tasha doesn’t make it. The tar monster covers the shuttle where Troi wakes up
after the crash. Troi says she felt Tasha die and knew that the monster killed
her on purpose. It thought it would be funny, but Tasha died too fast. Troi senses
that it needs to witness suffering. The monster blocks communications and
transporters. Troi can tell that the monster is angry and has an emptiness, it
was rejected.

A larger away team beam down
whilst Worf and Wesley monitor from the ship. Riker offers to negotiate, the
monster taunts them in a juvenile way, but allows them to contact Troi. Troi
tries to sympathise with it, but her pity makes it angrier. It sucks Riker into
itself and says it’ll kill him if they others try to help or leave. Worf
monitors its energy levels and realises that they decrease when it talks to
Troi. The
monster asks her if she would give herself for Riker, she says yes, and for any
of the others.

Picard beams down, refuses to deal with it anymore and threatens to leave. It
disgorges a very sticky Riker, and the rest of the away team beam back to the
ship. The monster says it wants to leave, but Picard won’t help until he can
see the people in the shuttle. Picard is whisked inside and tells Troi about
Tasha (I thought she felt her die?). Picard speeches at it, which it doesn’t
like, it hates his compassion. Picard tries to convince it that it isn’t truly
evil. It fears being alone and never finding those who abandoned it. Once its
energy levels gets low enough Worf and Wesley beam Troi out. Picard declares
the planet permanently quarantined.

The episode ends with Tasha’s memorial
service. A pre-recorded (but weirdly faded) hologram of her gives a speech, praising each main
character. Good thing no one else was invited to this service.

Oh Captain, My
Captain

Picard deals with the monster like he deals with most
things, he gets stern and speeches at it. It does not appreciate his oratory
and is probably not impressed by him Shelley, I doubt it knows who that is.

Tasha says: “Captain Jean-Luc Picard. I wish I could say
you've been like a father to me, but I've never had one, so I don't know what
it feels like. But if there was someone in this universe I could choose to be
like, someone who I would want to make proud of me, it's you. You who have the
heart of an explorer and the soul of a poet.”

So Tasha doesn’t know what having
a father is like, then describes what it is like.

Riker: lover,
adventurer, middle-management

Riker tries to talk to the monster at first. Later he offers
to negotiate, but turns his back on it and is pulled into it. His silently
screaming face is outlined in the goo, which is creepier than I expect from Star Trek.

Tasha says: “Will Riker, you are the best. You trusted me,
you encouraged me, and most of all you made me laugh.”

I don’t remember much
laughing.

Does Not Compute

The monster initially calls Data ‘tin man’ (a reference
Captain America
would get, but I’m not sure the monster should know). Later Data refuses to
help it taunt Geordi when it removes his visor. When the monster
telekinetically controls Data and threatens to make him shoot Picard Data
refuses to feel bad, because he knows his actions are not his own. It was
foolish to try and make Data feel guilt or fear.

Tasha says: “My friend Data. You see things with the wonder
of a child, and that makes you more human than any of us.”

This is actually
pretty creepy when you consider, y’know, Tasha and Data.

Counsellor Pointless

Troi’s empathy does seem to be useful in dealing with the
monster and knowing what it’s doing to her friends. She realises that getting
it to confront its anger weakens it.

Tasha says: “Deanna, you are capable of so much love. You
taught me without ever having to say a word. I realised I could be feminine
without losing anything.”

I can really get on board with the spirit of this
message. If you aren’t naturally girly you can have mixed feelings about your
own femininity. However in the context of the show this rings sadly hollow, we
all know why Troi is there really.

The Boy

Why is Wesley helping Worf? I can understand that he wants
to know what’s going on while his mother is on the planet, but otherwise it
seems too important –and potentially too traumatising- to have a kid involved
with this.

Tasha says: “Wesley, I'm sorry I won't be able to see you
grow into the exceptional man you'll be. But your kindness and innocence are
ageless.”

Groan.

Klingon Warrior

Worf and Tasha have nice moment at start of the episode
discussing her upcoming martial arts tournament. Later Worf wants to stay on
the bridge to monitor the situation, rather than go down to planet. This makes
sense from a security point of view, plus he probably realises that his
instincts would doom him too if he was down there in front of the enemy.

Tasha says: “Ah, Worf. We are so much alike, you and I. Both
warriors, orphans who found ourselves this family. I hope I met death with my
eyes wide open.”

Tasha and Worf were probably too similar. As a Klingon Worf’s
more interesting, and more can be done with his backstory. It’s a shame that as
Tasha was a combative character who didn’t have a Y-chromosome, she had to have
a traumatic background. 25 years on it’d be nice if we could’ve moved past
that.

Doctor Doctor

Beverly
frantically tries to save Tasha with technobabble, but it turns out (in this
instance anyway) that technobabble is not magic.

Tasha says: “Beverly.
Your fierce devotion comes from within. It can't be diminished. From you, I
have learned to strive for excellence, no matter what the personal cost.”

I can get on board with this.

Blind Engineering

Geordi beams down after Tasha’s death to examine the creature.
It telekinetically knocks his visor off and Geordi has to feel around on the
floor (like when Velma drops her glasses in Scooby Doo). When Data tries to
help Geordi the monster moves the visor away again.

Tasha says: “Geordi, in those moments I felt the most
despair, you took my hand and helped me to see things differently. You taught
me to look beyond the moment.”

I don’t remember seeing any of this. Also the
pun-like use of ‘look’ and ‘see’ is, um, weird.

Continuity

The monster was created by a race “whose beauty now dazzles
all who see them.” It was created when they removed all that was negative and
destructive about themselves and left it behind. I wonder if we ever find out
which race it was?

Space Trumpets

The music in the sickbay while they work on Tasha ups the
tension and makes it feel like a scene from a hospitable drama.

No Magic Here

The monster has a wide range of powers: shape-shifting,
telekinesis, possibly a weird kind of pocket dimension within itself.

Staff Meetings: 1

In the observation lounge the key staff discuss Tasha’s
death and how to defeat the monster. Picard asks them to put their feelings
aside for now.

Death by Space
Misadventure

Tasha

The End

After the service Data and Picard hang back. Data says he
doesn’t understand the ritual; he’s not thinking of Tasa, but of how much he’ll
miss her. He assumes he’s misunderstood, but Picard tells him he’s got it.

2 comments:

Oh my, this one was bad. I do remember it from my childhood, and I don't remember it being bad then, but now I do! I was actually embarrassed to be watching it with my wife in the room, haha. Armus was unbelievably hokey, the voice didn't help either.